Time to hit the 'Panic' button?

I am interested in the fan's base prospective in lieu of what transcribed since the start of the season, and here are the most intriguing matters, in my opinion:1. The Defense: Toronto coach has been lauded for as a career defensive schematics guru. It is obvious so far that defense on our team is incompetent and subpar to be competing on a NBA level. Where is the disconnect?2. The Roster: announced by the GM as the formidable collection of young prospects, it is hard to give any credit to this claim after this poor start. And this claim is not made just because of the losses. It was made because there is a lack of effort, hustle, intensity, and definitive lack of collective and cohesion. Seems like this GM is making mistake after mistake in the drafts, and can not trade for even marginal talent. Bitterness comes from the fact that Bargnani, DeRozan, Davis, Ross, Acy, and also Valanciunas are either not talented and consistent, or athletic enough to be a competent part of a NBA team first-five squad. Imagine either one of them on any other team - would they be playing in the first five? The rest of the cast is a 'make-do'. If a temporary loss of only one player (Lowry) is deemed a cause for the no-show of the whole team in two consecutive games, how good is this team then? Last night while watching the pathetic Dallas team thriving against Raptors, I thought that I wish we had again PJ Tucker, Joey Graham, and Joey Dorsey, and hell yes, Reggie Evans on the team - they would at least show a speckle of pride and defense. What to do with this roster?3. Jump Shot vs. Penetration: Vast percentage of the offensive plays are done from a single player ISO (isolation against the defender and a prayer that the ball will somehow get in). In essence, this team is doing the same thing as it did in the final 2 years of the Vince Carter era - which was easy to defend and led to defeating results. I have been monitoring the modus operandi of Kyle Lowry - career off-dribble penetrator to basket now looks to shoot as much as possible, and some of those shots came from far, far above the arc - that is not the reflection of the expanding range, I think. The rest of the team is static, mostly in the corners, awaiting the ball so that they could chunk it out. Why is jump shooting with no remorse so cheap in Toronto? 4. Direction: I do not see a strong player base, exciting prospects and a futuristic and developmental direction, provided by the team leadership. Rebuild mode seems to be permanent and persistent. Both GM and the coach are very eloquent and capable making excuses, calling this team 'young', 'up and coming'. Unfortunately, and as a true Toronto citizen and team fan, I think that this is not true. In my opinion, this team needs help at all the aspects which define the game of basketball: agility, athleticism, experience, and team spirit. What do you think are the strategic and tactical needs overall for the Toronto Raptors?

P.S.
Thank you all for comments.... I thought I would be spilling out much more vitriol after OKC and Dallas games.

It's a lack or urgency/intensity. Sure, it's early in the season. There are 77 games remaining. Plenty of time to right the ship, right?

Wrong! If we don't take care of the next 2 homes games vs. Philly and Utah, 12 of the following 15 games are on the road. We can't be starting that stretch 1-6, or even 2-5. We gotta win these 2 games.

With a mentally fragile team like this, falling too far behind the .500 mark will only spell trouble.

It's too early to panic. I usually think it's tough to judge much about a team until 15-20 games have been played but here's the thing....

A lot of the issues: poor defense, rebounding in timely situations, poor shooting, inefficient offense - these are the same issues that have been around for years now. The games in Dalls and OKC looked virtually indistinguishable from games the last two years when they were tanking. It's troubling.

Again, no need to panic right now but there are a lot of worrisome signs involving many of the usual suspects.

From what I've watched during the per-season and first few games (about 25 -30% of the action) I'd say criticism of Bargnani is massively overblown both offensively and defensively. He generally looks like he understands what's going on and is seldom the culprit when things break down. He looks like a pro to me. His shot has been a bit off, but that will likely come around. It'd sure be nice if he learned how to jump a little. He could block shots if he just lifted some.

Val has been great, though getting schooled a bit by the various NBA trees.

Fields has been useless. Playing with the other four starters, all of whom are decent, has hidden his awfulness to some degree. He just runs around and plays on hope. The ball will go in the hoop about 20 percent of the time for any jackass. Against Milwaukee he appeared to pass the ball to the opposing player once, right under the basket. He has lost it. Bench him and bring him into games late as a wildcard element to see if some value can be retained. I'm sure he won't mind. He's frying under the limelight.

Overall, I don't see what people are so worried about. It's nice to see the Raptors scoring so much even as they struggle to get their defense in order. And this is scoring despite having some weak shooters on the floor. DeMar has been impressive most of the time, Lowry has been blessed with good rolls and the rest of the squad have been just plain OK. Not too many dumb shots have been attempted by most of the squad outside of the designated shooters (and Anderson at times, but hey.)

No panic button necessary. Things look fine. Just bench Fields for Kleiza or DeRozan, wait for Bargs to get more into rhythm, develop Ross (and perhaps Acy a bit too if possible) , admire JV's positive contribution and wait for next season or perhaps even the playoffs this season if the bounces go our way more often than not. I can't see the Raps getting blown out much. Heck, they didn't last year.

No need to hit the panic button just yet. It's way too early. When i saw their schedule to start the season. I have them going 2-3 in the first 5 games. With wins against Indiana and Minnesota. They're 1-4 but they could've easily been 2-3 maybe even 3-2 if they could only just make that one crucial stop or one clutch shot late in the game.

Main problem right now is poor D, rebounding, lazy plays, poor execution late in the game.

Bargnani should be coming off bench in my opinion. Big reason they don't have energy early is because of his lazy plays. His 1st half last night was vintage Andrea Bargnani. Lack lustre effort defensively, not boxing out, Casey probably gave it to him at halftime because Andrea was a different player in the 2nd half.

Another reason why i think Bargnani would be better off the bench is because he's got great chemistry with Jose.

Don't worry guys. Colangelo clearly has his eyes set on the 2015-16 season where the only players under contract are DeRozan, Ross, Valanciunas, and a newly extended Lowry. Two unnamed max contracts coming our way!

It's not at all surprising that some fans are hitting the panic button, but I'd be disappointed if anyone in the organization is. Unless you come in with a veteran team, most of whom have played together for a while, it takes about 20 games before you know what you've got. Look at the Lakers as a prime example. Even without 1 HOFer in the line-up, they still trot out 3 HOFers in the starting line-up, and a 3 time DPOY manning the middle, and have the same bloody pissy record as the Raps, from a softer schedule to date.

Panic? Hell, one sure way to marginalize the organization to players, coaches, GMs throughout the league, as well as most fans and local media, is to hit the panic button after 5 games. They've got a very tough schedule ahead of them, but let's see how they look after another 15 games. The last time they had a team that made some noise, in 2006-07, they started out 2-8, winding up 7-13 after 20, then went on to a 47-35 record. This is not the time to panic, unless you're a fan and that works for you.

I'm confident things will be better around all star break. A team trying to gel, forgetting defence due to emphasis on offence and a difficult schedule are some of the problems I see. Solving these problems, requires time. Bargs. is having trouble with Lowry's PG style as opposed to Jose's which he prefers. It is a good time to trade him IMO.

Don't worry guys. Colangelo clearly has his eyes set on the 2015-16 season where the only players under contract are DeRozan, Ross, Valanciunas, and a newly extended Lowry. Two unnamed max contracts coming our way!

Definitly not time to hit the panic button.
But as many people have eluded to already there are many glaring issues Casey and Co. need to address.
Through the first 5 games, I understand their defense has been an obvious issue, but specifically over the past 2 games their offense has been extremely hard to watch. All they (ie. JL3, Calderon, Bargs) seem to do is dribble around the perimeter aimlessly, and jack up 3's. At best, they try to pick and roll with little success (I think alot of NBA teams are figuring out how to easily defend the old pick and roll). On offense, they seem lost, hesitant, timid, and easily intimidated. During half time last night (Dallas) Casey was asked to address the teams lack of offense and all he could muster up was "we need to pop out more often and work the pick and roll with bargnani better". My mother could have given a better response than that. I feel most comfortable when the ball is in DD's hands. To some it up, I feel like they are developing some very worrisome habbits, but it is way to early to hit the panic button. This thread should be reposted at the 30 game mark.

You raptor fans are interesting. Ask yourself if this team minus Lowry was a playoff team, then ask yourself what the expectations were after adding a player like him were. It skyrocketed from possibly top 4 worst team in the NBA to making the playoffs. At best this team was 35-41 wins and IF Bargnani played the way he played prior to his injury, IF Derozan became a high level scorer, IF the defense takes a step forward and IF Lowry was the playmaker they desperately needed. Lots of ifs, one is bound not to happen and hammer us into the lottery. We aren't Atlanta circa 2009 throwing out 4 potential All stars on the court, we got 1 all-star and 4 bench guys, please lower the expectations for this squad.